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Business leaders comment on exchange between Yvette Cooper and PM on immigration

21 Dec 2016

Commenting on an exchange on the subject of immigration between Yvette Cooper, Chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee, and the Prime Minister at the Liaison Committee hearing this afternoon, Seamus Nevin, Head of Employment and Skills Policy at the Institute of Directors, said:

“The net migration target hangs like an albatross around the Government’s neck. As Yvette Cooper pointed out this afternoon, at some point the Government will have to decide which is a higher priority in the Brexit negotiations, chasing an arbitrary and unachievable migration target, or doing what is in Britain’s best interests.

“The Prime Minister refused to put a number on future immigration from the EU, saying movement of people around the world is dictated by a broad range of factors. She’s right, not least because the biggest driver of recent immigration has been the UK’s economic success. Employers recognise that Brexit means change to immigration rules, and are doing what they can to train more British workers, but migration policy should be based on evidence about the UK’s fluctuating economic needs, not dictated by the pursuit of a politically-dictated number.”